Interesting piece in this morning’s New York Times about a major, high tech makeover of the Disney stores you see in every mall. Apparently Disney has recruited Apple’s Steven Jobs and is planning to turn the old toys-on-shelves model into interactive “imagination parks” instead, a kind of entertainment hub to woo kids with such attractions as high tech, interactive trees and in-store theaters that let you watch your choice of film clips, do karaoke or do a live video chat with Disney Channel stars. It goes beyond the video screen too. If you’re watching Disneys’ “A Christmas Carol,” for example, the store could fill with the fragrance of Christmas trees. Hold a Cinderella doll or tiara, and an embedded computer chip signals the magic mirror nearby, so Cinderella can appear and talk to your child.

One Response to “DISNEY Stores to Get a High Tech Makeover”

Disney has created a world of let’s pretend – an escape from reality. This new goal is to turn make believe into the reality of more fun equals more profit. The light side of me thinks it great to have all that animation without an expensive road trip to a Disney park. The logical part of me thinks parents without big bucks will have difficulty with the “can’t-afford-it” speech to their children when they must leave emptyhanded. A side note: People with allergies or breathing sensitivities are going to hate Disney when the fragrance of Christmas trees permeates the entire store because a single person is previewing “A Christmas Carol.” How much will those lawsuits subtract from Disney’s sales profit?